But into whatsoever city ye may have entered and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say,
Jesus sent seventy messengers ahead of Him into the towns He was about to visit, and this verse deals with the towns that shut the door. What were the messengers to do when a city refused them, and did that refusal cancel their message?
Two things stand out to commentators here: how many were sent, and what was said over the cities that would not hear.
The number of those sent shows the urgency of the message, as the woe added upon the cities of Israel implies the nearing judgment of the nation. In practice, though not openly, everything was already decided. So the only result could be the separation of a remnant from a people who had doomed themselves. Yet the kingdom of God has come near, and its glories are opening more than ever before. They are still hidden from eyes that have no care to see them.
The verse assumes a city may say no. What makes that no so serious is the grace behind the visit.
So the rejection of this mission would be most serious. The very measure of grace it springs from would make unbelief the more dangerous, and the judgment of it more final.
The messengers were to go out into the streets, where everyone could see. Commentators explain what wiping off the dust meant, and why gospel work now does not repeat it.
If His subjects refused such a message from the King, the servants were to leave and wipe the very dust of the city off their feet, as a testimony against that city. It was to be a solemn act of separation, giving up all connection with the city that rejected their Lord. Preaching the gospel today calls for no such action. The gospel goes to people in an evil world, not to cities. But cities are earthly, and these cities were tied to God's earthly people Israel. As cities, they would suffer for refusing their Messiah.
The messengers were also told how to take a refusal.
If anyone rejected them, they were to bow to it, and yet shake the dust off their feet against such people. The servant was not to strive, but God would surely remember it, for these were His messengers, and this was the treatment they got.
The messengers could leave the dust behind. The city could not leave behind what the visit had placed on it.
That city might reject them. They would then shake off all connection with it, even the very dust its streets had left on their feet. But there was something those who rejected the messengers could not shake off — their responsibility. The kingdom of God had come near, and they had cared nothing about it. They might indulge in carelessness, indifference and scoffing, but a day of reckoning must come.
The refusal in this verse lands on the messengers, but it does not stop with them.
People tend to judge how free they are to refuse the message by looking at the messengers. The right thing is to think whose messengers they are, and to own it. The One who sends them is received or refused, depending on whether the messengers are welcomed or not.
Rejection does not change the fact announced. The city that turns the messengers away hears the same word as the city that takes them in.
It is not just that such and such a thing is God's will. Whatever you do, whether you receive it or reject it, "the kingdom of God has come near to you." The world's condition now is that it has rejected Christ. The Son of God, the King, has come into the world, put it to the test, and it says, We will not have Him. That fact has not lost its solemnity now. We are walking through a world that has rejected Christ, and we bring the testimony of peace to it — peace that has been made, for the sacrifice has been offered.
Even with judgment near, the sending itself is an act of kindness.
In sending out these seventy we see the same patient grace at work as when He sent out the twelve. If they were not received, they were to shake the dust off their feet. God's love never stops, whatever the wickedness of man, until His work is done. His grace never fails. Christ looks at the power of grace in God more than at the wickedness of men.
- Sent — the large number of messengers marks urgency. Judgment on the nation was near, and only a remnant would be separated out.
- Refused — a city may reject the messengers. The greater the grace behind the visit, the more dangerous the unbelief and the more final the judgment.
- Renounced — wiping off the dust in public was a solemn act of separation. It gave up all connection with the city that turned away its Lord.
- Retained — the messengers shook off the dust. The city could not shake off its responsibility, for the kingdom had come near and it cared nothing.
- Repeated — grace does not stop at refusal. Christ still sends, and still brings peace into a world that has rejected Him.
Even the dust of your city, which cleaves to us on the feet, do we shake off against you; but know this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh.
Jesus sends seventy messengers ahead of Him into towns He plans to visit. Here He tells them what to do when a town will not have them: do one last public act, then leave. Yet they must still announce the same message they would have given if welcomed.
One writer draws out what the announcement itself exposes:
They were to say, "The kingdom of God has come near to you," as well as to heal the sick. What a terrible verdict against this world, that God has to publish His kingdom in it! A well-run family would take it as an insult if you told the children to obey their parents. But the world has to be told to obey God — and that only shows its true condition.
Wiping the dust off was not a private gesture of frustration. It was a public act, and it cut a tie:
If His subjects refused such a message from the King, the servants were to leave. They were to wipe the very dust of the city off their feet, as a testimony against the city. It was to be a solemn act of separation, refusing all connection with the city that rejected their Lord.
The same writer adds that this does not carry over to gospel work today: "The preaching of the gospel today does not call for any such action, for the gospel is to people in an evil world, not to cities."
The messengers shake off the dust. But one thing stays with the town, whatever it does with them:
That city might reject them. They would then shake off all connection with it, even the very dust collected there by their feet. But those who rejected the messengers could not shake off one thing — their responsibility. For the kingdom of God had come near, and they had cared nothing about it. They might go on being careless, indifferent or scoffing. But a day of reckoning must come.
The same writer turns it on the reader: "What a responsibility rests on anyone who has the chance to hear the message of God! It was so then. It is so now."
The town that says no still hears the announcement. Refusal changes the town's standing. It does not change the fact:
"The kingdom of God has come near to you." This is not just a statement that such and such a thing is God's will. Whatever you do, whether you receive it or reject it, "the kingdom of God has come near to you." The world's condition now is that it has rejected Christ. The Son of God, the King, has come into the world, put it to the test, and it says, We will not have Him.
The same writer notes what faith rests on: "Faith carries things in its own sphere, needing nothing but God's word."
The kindness behind this mission is exactly what makes turning it down so serious:
So the rejection of this mission would be very serious. The measure of the grace it springs from would make unbelief all the more dangerous, and the judgment of it all the more final... It would not change the truth. They might reject, but the kingdom of God had come near to them.
The next verse names Sodom, the ancient city destroyed for its wickedness. The same writer explains why its case is lighter: "Sodom had not known the witness of the personal presence of the Lord Jesus and was therefore not as responsible as these."
The size of the mission carries its own message:
The number of those sent shows how urgent the message was. The woe added on the cities of Israel implies that judgment on the nation was near... Yet the kingdom of God has come near. Its glories are opening more than ever before, though hidden from eyes that have no care to see them.
- Announced — God has to proclaim His kingdom in this world. That fact alone is a verdict on it. Children in a well-run home need no such notice.
- Offered — grace sent many messengers in haste, because judgment on the nation was drawing near.
- Refused — wiping off the dust was a public act of separation. It cut every tie with a city that would not have its Lord.
- Unchanged — refusal does not touch the fact. Welcomed or driven out, the messengers say the same thing. Faith needs nothing but God's word to hold it.
- Retained — the servants shake off the dust. The town keeps what it cannot shake off: its responsibility, measured by the grace that came to it.